Nope is a 2022 American science fiction film directed by Jordan Peele and stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, and Brandon Perea
In 1998 , on the soundstage for the sitcom Gordy’s Home, the titular chimpanzee animal actor attacks and kills its human co-stars after being startled by the pop of a balloon. Child actor Ricky “Jupe” Park hides under the table and is unharmed, though scared. The chimp finds Jupe and extends a hand before being shot dead by authorites.
In the present day, ranch owner Otis Haywood Sr. trains and handles horses for film productions. When he is killed by a nickel through the eye that falls unexplainably, his children Otis Jr. and Emerald inherit the ranch. O.J. tries to keep the business going and to uphold his father’s legacy, while Em looks for fame and fortune in Hollywood. The Haywoods claim that unnamed jockey in “Plate 626” from Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion series of photographs was their ancestor.
Six months later while, while filming a commercial with well known cinematographer Antlers Holst, a horse reacts violently when the crew startles it and the Haywoods are fired from the project. The ranch’s financial problems have forced OJ to sell horses to a grown up Jupe, who owns and operates the nearby Jupiter’s Claim, a smal western theme park, where he uses the story of Gordy’s Home killing for profit. Jupe offers to buy the Haywoods’ ranch, which Em encourages OJ to accept. That night Haywoods notice their electricity flickering and their horses disappearing and reacting brutally to an unknown presence. They discover that a UFO shaped like flying saucer has been sucking up their horses and spitting out any unwanted debris, which caused their father’s death.
Seeking wealth and fame, OJ and Em decide to document the evidence of the UFO’s existence and they obtain Fry’s Electronics employee Angel Torresto set up surveillance cameras as they bait it with a pretend horse. Jupe introduces a live show at Jupiter’s Claim and plans to have a horse as bait to coax the UFO to come out, having fed it the horses he bought from the Haywoods, in front of a paying audience. This UFO is not a spaceship but predatory creature that eats anthing that looks directly at it.
This film has a Spielbergian feel too it, much like his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but not nearly as good. To me this is one of Peele’s weaker films. Most of the movie is spent on the creature in the sky, waiting for it, watching it, escaping from it and only a portion is actually spent on the horses and the human characters. The creature goes from looking like a giant UFO, to a giant kite, to a ginormous kaleioscope, which is neat, but entire scenes of it, is a waste of time. We get it, we’re amazed, move on.
The acting is great from Daniel Kaluuya (OJ) and Steve Yeun (Jupe), Keke Palmer was given a bad role, as she is really good actress and deserves better, but her character Emerald was nothing more than an annoying stereotype of a young African American tomboy wanting fame and fortune.
This film had little flow and made little sense and you never learn why the sky creature was after that town. It is very intense but also focuses way too much on the creature and very little on the human characters, although a good bit is focused on the horses. I like science fiction and thriller films but they both must have what films need a begining, middle and end. This one has a begining, but the middle and end are combined. Had the middle and end been seperated, I would have enjoyed it more. This took Spielberg style sci-fi and just made it worse. The last about hlaf the film was spent trying to get away from this UFO looking alien creature thing and not about learning anything about it and why it wants to destroy that town eat certain living things.They just want it come out and then run from it, which makes no sense and they are just wanting it to suck them up.
This movie is really fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat and because of these things, it is better to see it in theater. The intensity, violence and language in this movie are not appropiate for yound kids. Just the creature alone would give them nightmares.
I am disappointed I spent over two hours of my life watching this movie that had very little story to it other than horses, but the alien thing is never explained about at all, not why they’re on earth, where they came from, why that town? Nothing. Jordan Peele has said that the creature represents Hollywood and the main (human) characters are Hollywood stars and the alien going after the Haywoods and Jupe represents how Hollywood mistreats African Americans and Asians. Which upon learning that, it made me like this movie a little bit more, but still not a whole lot more.
The cinematography, scenery and special effects are amazing, i just wish there had been less alien or whatever that thing is more about the characters and their lives. It might as well have been callled Jordan Peele’s Alien. But all of those good qualities dont make the film that much better, just more entertaining. 18+ 3.5/5
Beast is a 2022 American survival thriller film directed by Balasar Kormakor. The films stars Idris Elba, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Sharlto Copley.
A recently widowed husband returns to South Africa where he first met his wife, on a trip with his daughters to a game reserve managed by an old family friend and wildlife biologist. Soon a vicious wild lion, wanting human flesh, begins attacking them and killing everyone it finds.
This film’s plot is simple, yet this movie is extremely intense and at times, quite disturbing. You see characters get attacked, shot at, stabbed, and even killed. Violence comes mostly from the ferocious lion that wants to kill every human human he finds, as he thinks they are all out kill his pride and other animals, or as we call them poachers. You do see some poachers shoot and kill several wild animals and drag off their bodies, which is disturbing (and illegal), and poaching is still an ongoing problem in the world. Young viewers will be too disturbed for the movie.
Idris Elba does a great job as Dr. Nate Samuels, though his American could use some work on, as it fades to American to barely British (his real accent). Sharlto Copley does a good, not great job as Martin Battles. The film doesn’t have much of a before story, not telling much about the daughters’ mother’s death, or their parents’ marriage, except that they had divorced or seperated and first met in South Africa. The movie jumps right into the poaching and trying to survive from the lion and that’s pretty much the rest of the film, which though intense, it wasn’t that interesting and needed a lot more story, because alone, it is so one dimensional. Also this film is rather short at an hour and thirty-three minutes and I was expecting a film like this one to be at least two hours long.
Had this one more of a storyline, it would have been more interesting and not just plain gory and nail-bitingly distressful. Although the acting is really good and the scenery is beautiful, that doesn’t make up for the weakness of this movie. I found myself on the edge of my seat nearly the wole time, but also wanting more and thinking at the end of this one, “That’s it?”
Would I watch this one again? Maybe if it came on TV and there was nothing else on, but it would never be a first choice that’s for sure. This one is thrilling for sure, but that’s it. So much more plot is needed to make this an outstanding film. Don’t waste your time or money on this movie in theater. It leaves to too much out to make you scratch your head in the end. 18+ 2.5/5
Men is a 2022 folk horror film written and directed by Alex Garland. It follows the a widowed young woman (Jessie Buckley) who goes on holiday alone in the English countryside but gets disturbed by the men in the town (all played by Rory Kinnear).
Harper Marlowe decides to spend a holiday in the small village of Cotson following the suicide of her husband James. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Harper is fed up with James’ abuse and emotional outbursts, intending to divorce him, leading him to threaten her with killing himself and hitting her when she continues to reject him. Harper locks James out of their flat and sees him him fall from upstairs balcony to his death.
Sometime later, Harper pulls up to the house she is renting, where she is met by its owner, Geoffrey. She goes for a walk in the woods and finds an old railroad tunnel. A mysterious figure appears at the end of the tunnel and start chasing her, but she gets away. Coming upon an open field, she takes a picture of it on her phone, capturing a naked man standing near an abandoned building. Later, as Harper is video chatting with her friend Riley, she notices the naked man in her yard, having followed her from the tunnel. She calls the police and he is arrested. She goes to a church and meets a young boy with a female cartoon character like mask and a vcar, who both bear similarity to Geoffrey and the vicar tries to rationalize James hitting her. At a pub in town, one of the policemen (who also looks like Geoffrey) tells Harper that the naked man was released as they had no legal evidence to keep him detained.
Harper tells Riley this and she agrees to come in the morning, but as Harper tries to send her the address her service is interrupted. She sees the policeman in her yard, but as her lights flicker, he changes into the young boy, who chases her into the house. She defends herself with a knife and a window breaks in the kitchen. Geoffrey arrives and finds that the window breaking is do to a crow flying into it, which he then kills by breaking its neck. As Geoffrey goes into the yard, he is changed into the naked man, who chases her again. When he tries to reach her through the mail slot, she stabs him, but he manages to pull his arm free, the stuck knife ripping his arm in two. Both the boy and the vicar appear in the house, both of them correspondingly injured. The vicar tries to rape Harper but she stabs him and runs out of the house.
A24 is known for extremely bizarre, disturbing and quite confusing movies. This film starts out really good, but takes a major nose dive, like much of A24’s motion pictures. It just gets stranger and stranger, stupider and stupider as the fillm reaches the climax and then just ends abruptly. The trailer for this movie makes it look like a great bizarre thriller, which, great it is not, bizarre it is and thrilling, pretty thrilling in lots of scenes. Most of the scenes towards the end, will have you saying “WTF?!” Because they are so weird, just plain stupid, they make no sense whatsoever.
Alex Garland’s Ex Machina was an outstanding film, so I was expecting something just as good and this was a HUGE disappointment. I don’t understand how anyone could find this film even remotely good, as I found it just plain bad. It starts out good, but very slow and rather disturbing, being the scenes of domestic violence and suicide . The acting is great, the scenery is beauty, as is the music, but story is too strange and unsettling and at times, confusing.
One male villain covered in blood, giving birth to another one and then that one and so on until Harper’s dead ex-husband is reborn is about as weird as it gets for a movie. It’s never explained how Geoffrey could turn into all those male characters and how he knew about her situation when she didn’t rent the house under her married name and he had never even met her before. The director has you guessing about so many things that never get answered and I’m sure that’s what he was going for, but that made it hard for me to watch.
Being a big fan of horror and art films and reading the rave reviews, I was really hoping to like this movie, but it was nothing more another typical A24 production. Now I don’t hate all of their films, I really like Ladybird and Moonlight, but it just seems that most of the motion pictures they put out are like Men and Herediary. Don’t waste your time with this stupid, disgusting, mess of a movie. 18+ 1.5/5
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling. It is the second installment in the Fantastic Beasts series, and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise and is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Callum Tuner, Claudia Kim, Kevin Guthrie, Jude Law and Johnny Depp. Set in 1927, it follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they try to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald while facing new threats in an even more divided wizarding world.
In 1927, the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA) moves the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald to Europe to stand trial, but he escapes. Three months later, London, Newt Scamander, visits the Ministry of Magic to appeal his international travel ban, and runs into Leta Lestrange, his Hogwarts classmate and the fiance of his older brother Theseus. The Ministry agrees to accept Newt’s request if he helps Theseus find Credence Barebone, who is still alive in Paris, but Newt declines after learning he must work with the cruel bounty hunter Gunnar Grimmson. Albus Dumbledore asks Newt to track down Credence, believing that he is Leta’s long-lost half-brother, Corvus Lestrange V.
Newt is visited by American friends Queenie Goldstein and Jacob Kowalkski, a Muggle, who has regained his memories that were erased the previous year. Newt is disappointed to learn that Queenie’s sister Tina Goldstein is seeing someone after mistakenly believing Newt and Leta were engaged. After Newts lifts the spell, Jacob refuses to marry Queenie, fearing the consequences she would face. Queenie leaves to find Tina, who is looking for Tina in Paris, followed by Newt and Jacob.
In Paris Credence escapes the Circus Arcanus with captive entertainer Nagini, a Maledictus cursed to turn into a snake permanently. Searching for Credence’s birth mother, the find half-elf servant Irma Dugard, who brought him to America for adoption. Grimmson revealed to be a follower of Grindelwald, kills Irma before she can tell who sent her. Tina meets Yusuf Kama, who is also looking for Credence. Newt and Jacob follow Yusuf to Tina, only to find her being held hostage. Yusuf imprisons them, telling them that he made an Unbreakable Vow to kill his half-brother, whom he believes is Credence. Unable to find Tina, an upset Queenie is brought to Grindelwald; knowing her abilities, he lets her leave while brainwashing her into joining him through her desire to marry Jacob.
Newt and Tina invade the Ministry of Magic for documents to confirm Credence’s identity, but are found by Leta and Theseus. Tina and Newt make up after he explains that he was never engaged to Leta. Their search leads them to the Lestrange family tomb, where they find Yusuf confronting Credence and Nagini. Yusuf reveals that he is carrying out his father Mustafa’s wish to seek revenge towards his mother Laurena, who was kidnapped by Corvus Lestrange IV, using the Imperial Curse and died after giving birth to Leta.
The group follow a crowd to a rally for Grindelwald’s followers, where Queenie is attending and Jacob is looking for her. Grindelwald shows a vision of a future global war, and rallies against laws that prohibit them preventing such a tragedy.
This film has the magic that Potter fans enjoy, but the story isn’t nearly as strong as the other ones. The movie has plenty of plot twists, action and fantasy, but feels a lot like one character chasing after another. It is entertaining, but it seems like there is more time spent battling between good and evil than telling the actual story. The special effects, costumes, scenery and music are great. The acting is superb, but the story goes from one thing to the next far too fast, and there isn’t much about the background of the characters. It seems there is more rescuing of other characters than just slowing down and telling of the story.
At times the film seems rushed and some scenes are rather slow, but it is not boring by any means. It is still action packed, filled with thrills, fantasy, superb acting and a fantastic storyline. There are humorous, romantic, shocking and heartwarming scenes as well. Is it as good as the first Fantastic Beasts film or any in the Harry Potter series? No, but it’s not terrible. Perhaps if this movie relied less on its bizarre and wonderful creatures and more on giving audiences the feeling of being transported, it would have been a nearly perfect motion picture like its predecessors.
You have many of the same beloved and hated characters from the first Fantastic Beasts film, but they don’t really change much it seems in this one. Newt is still a smart, quirky magizoologist, Jacob is still in love with Queenie and Grindelwald is still the second of the “Most Dangerous Wizards of All Time.”
All the special effects, action and period costuming and scenery, doesn’t make this film outstanding, but wildly entertaining it still is. 13+ 3.5/5
Last Night in Soho is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright and starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Diana Rigg and Terrence Stamp. It is the final film appearances of Rigg and Margaret Nolan, who both died in 2020.
The film follows Eloise “Ellie” Turner, who loves the music and fashion of the Swinging Sixties and dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Her mother, who was also a designer, killed herself when Ellie was a child. Ellie occasionally sees her mother’s ghost in mirrors.
Ellie moves from her rural house in Redruth, Cornwall, to London, to study at the London College of Fashion, where she has trouble fitting in with the other students, especially her stuck up roommate Jocasta. Only John, another student, is sympathetic towards her. Unhappy in the dorms of the school, Ellie moves into a bedsit in Goodge Place owned by the elderly Ms. Collins.
That night, Ellie has a vivid dream where she is carried back in time to the 1960s. At the Cafe de Paris, she sees a brave young blonde woman, Sandie, ask about becoming a singer at the club. Sandie begins a relationship with charming teddy boy manager, Jack. The next morning, Ellie designs a dress inspired by Sandie and discovers a love bite on her neck.
Ellie has another dream in which Sandie auditions at a Soho nightclub, arranged by Jack. before returning to the same bedsit that Ellie has rented. Inspired by these dreams, Ellie dyes her hair blonde, changes her clothing style and gets a job at a pub. She is approached by a grey haired man, who recognizes her resemblance to Sandie is not living the life she had wanted and Jack begins to pimp Sandie to his male business partners. Ellie begins an investigation after discovering in a dream that murders have taken place in the bedsit and soon discovers that the owner of the place she is renting from has a dark past and that she may or may not be the real Sandie.
This film is equal parts intense, twisted, bizarre and disturbing. The combination of putting present day London and 1960s London together is ingeniously done, combining the fashion and music of today’s Britain to the fashion and music and to what it was in 60s, along with the two stories clashing together as one and at times separately. The soundtrack is great combining both sixties and 2000s hits, the fashion is fantastic, everything Sandie and Jack (others from the 60s) wear is beautiful and spot on with the time period, making the film both gorgeous and thrilling at the same time.
Thomasin McKenzie does a good, not great job in the film as Ellie Turner, but was not the best fit for the role. Anya Taylor-Joy is outstanding job as Sandie , Matt Smith is equally outstanding as Jack. Terrance Stamp is good as Lindsey, the grey haired older man who stalks Ellie at the pub, I just wish he had had more lines in the movie.
The film seems to jump into the wickedness almost too quickly, not really building up much beforehand. You do learn how Sandie meets Jack, but you learn too fast, so that part is bit rushed, making it seem like she becomes nightclub star and he becomes her boyfriend and pimp overnight, which is impossible. The story is almost all intensity and too much of it takes place in the 60s world and not in the present day. Also, the film towards the end, stretches the horror factor too far, making the landlady into the overdone insane character, which at first you think is Ellie.
If the director would’ve spent equal time in both eras, stopped the overdoing of the weird towards the end and cast a better actress for Ellie, the film would have been fantastic. It is still entertaining, but I don’t see it winning any best picture awards or Palme d’Or at Cannes. But both Taylor-Joy and Smith deserve awards for their performances. 18+ 3.5/5
Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg based on Peter Benchley’s 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton and Lorraine Gary. It follows the story of a man eating great white shark attacking beachgoers at a summer resort town, coaxing police chief Martin Brody (Scheider) to hunt it down with the help of a marine biologist (Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Shaw). Murray Hamilton plays the mayor and Lorraine Gary plays Martin’s wife.
This film has the feel of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, which Spielberg was going for. For the time period of this film’s release it was considered revolutionary in film-making and many still regard it as that, although some viewers have or do point out the “fakenes” of the effects particularly of the shark. Yes, at times, you can tell the shark is fake and a few times that the attacks are fake as well. But the film was still ahead of it’s time and still just as scary today as it was then.
This film is beyond shocking and nail-biting no matter how many times you watch it. It is also extremely gory, so not good for children under the age of ten. The intensity of this movie makes it both exciting and frightening. Despite what some call “fake” about this film, it is still very well done and makes you not want to get in the ocean, not to surf, swim, or go out on a boat, so don’t watch this before going to the beach or on a cruise.
Roy Scheider is outstanding as police chief Martin Brody, although the character could’ve drank, smoked and cursed less, especially around his kids. Murray Hamilton is equally great as the mayor of Amity Island, so is Richard Dreyfuss as Martin Hooper the marine biologist. Robert Shaw does a fine job as Quint the shark hunter and Lorraine Gary is good, not great as Ellen Brody.
Somehow a fake giant shark killing beachgoers fell into place, because this film brings an astonishingly effective shock factor and is legendary for that. It is so brilliantly executed that it deserves it own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is one that any film lover must see to believe. There is not one bad moment, not one boring scene. It sends you on a terrifying ride throughout, sends your heart racing the moment you hear the famous music, that has become synonymous with sharks. It is one of Spielberg’s finest films. A true masterpiece, so don’t let the nit-picky critical reviews turn you off of watching this.
This like I said is not for young kids, it is violent to the max, lots of smoking and drinking and quite a bit of cursing. Also, if you don’t like lots of gore, this may not be for you. 13+ 4.5/5
Promising Young Woman is a 2020 American black comedy thriller film written and directed by Emerald Fennell in her directorial debut. It stars Carrie Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge and co-stars Laverne Cox and Connie Britton.
This film follows Cassie Thomas (Mulligan), a 30 year old medical school drop out who lives with her parents in Ohio. Years before, her classmate Al Monroe raped her best friend Nina Fisher and the school’s legal team dropped the investigation, leading her to commit suicide. Cassie then starts spending her nights at clubs, letting men take her to their houses and revealing her soberness when they take advantage of her.
At the coffee shop she works at, she gets asked out by a former classmate Ryan Cooper (Burnham). On their first date he tells her Al is getting married. Cassie then plans a revenge on the ones responsible for Nina’s rape. She meets Madison McPhee (Brie) for lunch, an old friend who doesn’t believe Nina was raped. Cassie then gets her drunk and hires a man to take her to a hotel room. The next day Cassie listens to several voicemails from a very upset Madison, who doesn’t remember what happened. Cassie goes to Elizabeth Walker (Britton), the dean who dismissed the case of Nina’s sexual assault due to lack of evidence.
After Madison confronts Cassie in front of her house, wanting badly to know what happened after that lunch. Cassie tells her nothing happened. Madison gives her an old phone containing a video of Nina’s rape before threatening her to never contact her again. Cassie sees Ryan on the video. She confronts him and threatens to release the video if he doesn’t tell her where Al’s bachelor party is going down. Ryan tells her and begs for her forgiveness, but Cassie turns him down. She disguises herself and goes to party to try and seek revenge on Al.
This film is definitely a #MeToo rape revenge film that is very dark and disturbing, at times too much. Although this film may be relatable for those that have been through sexual assault or those that know someone who has, it still manages to be entertaining. I don’t know why this is also called a dark comedy, because I saw no humor whatsoever. Severe violence to another person is not funny at all and if you have a weak stomach, I don’t recommend you watch this movie. It has a feel similar to 2005’s Hard Candy and 1976’s Carrie. Some might call this a feminist film, big payback’s a b*tch type as well and it is both. It’s a movie showing that women are not sexual toys to be taken advantage of, that there are some terrible in the world and how many legal cases get dropped when they shouldn’t.
Carrie Mulligan is outstanding as Cassie Thomas, giving us just enough brain, fake hooker, flirtatiousness and bad*ss revenge seeker. This is definitely one of, if not her best role to date. This role was tailor-made for her, although her character is pretty similar Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie could’ve played this role, but not as seriously as Mulligan. Bo Burnham is fantastic as Ryan Cooper, Cassie’s short time boyfriend and eventual enemy. He tries the whole time he and Cassie are together to cover up the Nina Case and does a great job until Madison reveals the truth.
Alison Brie, who in my opinion, isn’t always the best actress, did an excellent job as Madison McPhee. She portrays the new mother and angry ex-friend with such feeling, you forget Brie started out on a sitcom, because she is not the adorable naive and bubbly girl anymore, she’s a serious woman with bite and fight. Connie Britton is good, not great as Dean Elizabeth Walker. Maybe that’s because her part is small. To me, she needed to be more in the film, as she is an important character. Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge are just good, nothing fantastic, in their roles as Cassie’s parents. They too, needed bigger roles, as they are equally important as well.
Overall, this film is wild, disturbing and wicked. It is very entertaining, except the violence is a bit over the top. Not for anyone who can’t handle lots of gore and brutality. But if you’re a fan of thrillers or a fan of the film Carrie, (either version), you’ll definitely enjoy this film. Adults Only. 4/5
